Copyright complaint temporarily kills the Rickroll

If only this story could link to Rick Astley’s 1987 music video instead of the actual news: AVG Technologies hit YouTube with a DMCA notice.

It was one of the Internet’s most popular memes. But as of Wednesday, the Rickroll is no more.

Rickrolling is the practice of promising a victim one link but directing them instead to Rick Astley’s 1987 music video, “Never Gonna Give You Up,” instead. It’s a bait-and-switch that has been embraced by everyone from the New York Mets to the White House.

However, the collective joke ground to a halt when AVG Technologies took the original video down from YouTube with a copyright complaint, TorrentFreak reported.

“Taking down a five-year-old video with tens of millions of views is strange enough, but it is far from clear why AVG Technologies—the people behind AVG Anti-Virus—would want to do so at all,” enigmax wrote.

Still, it’s hard to imagine how an ’80s music video would infringe on an anti-virus software. We’ll be following the story to see if it turns out to be a legitimate complaint or perhapsthe build up to the ultimate Rickroll.

Update: Thousands of Internet jokes have been restored! After a 24-hour takedown, “RickRoll’d” is available once more on YouTube. The Daily Dot is seeking comment.